Samsung says your Galaxy Watch will 'soon' get a new health feature that might save your life

- Samsung watches will "soon" get early heart failure detection
- The feature already has regulatory approval in South Korea
- Meanwhile, Galaxy Watch Sleep Scores don't seem to be working properly
Wearables are getting better at detecting various health conditions, through improvements in sensor technology and AI, and Samsung has announced that its Galaxy Watches will soon be able to spot certain early signs of heart failure.
As per a new blog post, Samsung's wearables will "soon" be able to alert users to signs of Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction or LVSD. This is where heart muscles weaken, affecting blood pumping ability, and it's thought to be responsible for around half of heart failures worldwide.
Having already received regulatory approval in South Korea, the next step will be clearance in other parts of the world. The feature could be on the way fairly soon, though Samsung hasn't specified which of its Galaxy Watch models might get it.
The same blog post also outlines non-invasive brain scanning tech that Samsung is working on, which would enable EEG (electroencephalogram) style scans to look for issues such as drowsiness, for example. This innovation seems further off, though it could eventually work as an add-on to the Samsung Galaxy Buds.
Sleeping more soundly?
Meanwhile, back with Samsung's existing Galaxy Watch apps and features, something strange seems to be going on with Sleep Score reports: as noted by Android Authority, a lot of users are seeing changes in the figures they're getting in the morning.
Galaxy Watches are able to produce a personalized Sleep Score after each period of slumber, which factors in several variables – including how long you slept for and how deep your sleep was – to produce a number up to 100 (which would equal the perfect sleep session, with no improvements needed).
This Reddit thread features numerous examples of users who have started hitting 99 or 100 almost every day. Either something has changed in the algorithms Samsung is using, or Galaxy Watch owners are sleeping a lot, lot better. As bugs go, it's not the most serious, but it is interfering with people's ability to keep track of their sleep hygiene.
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Samsung has yet to comment on the issue, and it's possible that these scores will go back to normal as suddenly as they've gone awry. In the meantime, if you're seeing similar figures in your own Samsung Health app, know that you're not the only one.
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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.
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